Taking heart rate tech to the next level

The Apple Watch 3, in its current form, is already a helpful tool for monitoring your heart rate. But it could soon be even more vital, as Apple is reportedly developing a new wearable that features EKG technology to detect heart abnormalities.

Given Apple’s growing focus on health in past years, what with the introduction of HealthKit and several fitness-focused software features included in watchOS 4, this move is both unsurprising and very welcomed for those looking to get more out of wearables in the future.

EKGs, also known as ECGs or electrocardiograms, are a more in-depth method of scoping out your heart’s patterns. More advanced – and useful – than a standard heart rate sensor, which operates by a method called photoplethysmography, an EKG goes above simply reading back the rhythm of the beat, sending imperceptible currents of electricity to analyze your heart’s behavior.

Who’s this useful for?

While the inclusion of this feature will tempt many into buying future Apple Watch models, a cardiologist at University of California has stated such an Apple Watch, should it come to fruition, isn’t intended for people who don’t experience heart-related issues, such as arrhythmia.

If you’re a “healthy person”, according to this heart specialist, “there’s no reason to follow ECG” activity.

Nevertheless, EKG appearing in future iterations of the Apple Watch would be a major stride in making such a technology more accessible than ever. Bloombergreports that Apple entered into a research initiative alongside Stanford Medicine to study heart patterns, so it’s possible that we’ll see this tech popping up in the Apple Watch 4.